


Valentine's Day, 1983

by spaghetti_and_star_trek



Category: Def Leppard
Genre: Awkward Romance, Def Leppard - Freeform, Def Leppard X Reader, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Second person POV, Valentine's Day, crewmember!reader, joe elliott x reader - Freeform, just a couple of friends bein' friends, pyromania tour, pyromania!joe, pyromania-era, slightly aromantic reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-22 15:07:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22717951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaghetti_and_star_trek/pseuds/spaghetti_and_star_trek
Summary: Imagine: It’s Valentine’s Day, 1983, and you spend it with all the Lepps while on tour. At the end of the day, after everything’s done, you and Joe are walking around outside together…(originally posted on my blog i-dont-want-your-hysteria)
Relationships: Joe Elliott (Def Leppard)/Reader
Kudos: 4





	Valentine's Day, 1983

**Author's Note:**

> (originally posted on my blog i-dont-want-your-hysteria)

**February 14th, 1983. Annecy, France**

****“So, did you enjoy your Valentine’s Day?” Joe asked you while you both continued to walk alongside each other, “Your first _real_ one?”  
  
His curious smile and question were to be expected, as a fair amount of work was put in by the entire band in order to make the day special enough for you. It was your first Valentine’s Day around the boys since you came to know them, and naturally, of course, they were feeling kinda lonely. A tour had just begun, so those who had girlfriends couldn’t see them, and those who didn’t _-_ well, _didn’t_. You, personally, didn’t care for the holiday too much, having never celebrated it for real before. That day, however, the Leppards wanted to change that for you. After saying that you deserved a real celebration of the holiday, they decided they’d take matters into their own hands and romance it up collectively.  
  
Their intentions were good, to say the least, and the execution of it was even better than you expected from them. When they made it clear that they were all going to “date you for a day”, they really delivered right up to their word. They continued to deliver even until after dusk, but one by one, they each disappeared into their respective rooms for the night. This left you and Joe wandering about the fenced edges of the hotel’s back lawn together, as neither one of you wanted to chicken out first. The soft keyboard of _“Baby I Love Your Way”_ trailed out to the far edges of the grounds where you both stood, just barely loud enough to hear clearly.

“Yes…” you playfully admitted to him, looking up at the overcast night sky, “It was rather nice… especially when you all got down on one knee with those daisies this morning.”  
  
“I know you were probably expecting roses, but we didn’t wanna hold ‘em,” he put his hands in his pockets and shrugged, “You know, thorns…”  
  
You laughed a bit, dismissing the substitution, “No, no, that was fine, I loved it.”  
  
You stopped and leaned your forearms on the fence, facing outward and looking at the city lights in the distance. It was rather late, rather dark, and rather cold, but you felt like you couldn’t miss out on a single second of this moment. Your life had been changed completely ever since jumping on with the Leppard crew, and you didn’t want to miss a single thing of this new life.  
  
Joe mimicked your position beside you, gazing out as well.  
  
“I still don’t understand _why_ you would do this, though,” you shook your head in disbelief, “This whole day, I mean. It was just so sweet, and all for _me_ … I just don’t get it.”  
  
“We told you, we just felt like it was the right thing to do. We didn’t wanna leave you to be alone again on a day of- you know… love!”  
  
With a scoff, you retorted, “Hate to tell you this, buddy, but I’m the loneliest bitch on the face of the earth.”  
  
“Not exactly,” he differed with a smile, “You’ve got five bitches here who admire your company- even if four of them decided to go to bed already.”  
  
You chuckled just audibly enough for him to hear, and turned back to the view before you. Without warning, Joe put his arm around you and pulled you into a half hug, “Come on, we could sense that it was our duty to provide you with a real Valentine’s Day experience! You know, a dinner, a dance, a kiss, just anything to make it enjoyable!”  
  
He paused briefly before adding, “We know you’ve never really _had_ a Valentine’s Day before…”  
  
Your head turned to look at him with admiration, snickering, “You guys are too sweet, but none of you kissed me tonight. I don’t think you guys would let yourselves get caught like that- you’re all a lot more shy than you let on.”  
  
With a shrug and a shake of his head, Joe suggested, “Well if it’s a kiss you’re looking for…”  
  
Before he could go any further, you cut him off with a laugh, turning your head back to look outward at the lights, “Nah I’m good, you’ve done enough.”  
  
He retreated his arm from around you, laughing along, “Okay, okay… thought I’d offer! My lips feel chapped, anyways; you wouldn’t want that.”  
  
Both of you went back to walking parallel with the fence, and listening to the distant music. In a short time, the wind began to blow a little, chilling you more than you wanted.  
  
“You cold?” Joe asked out of curiosity, sensing the change in the temperature as well.  
  
“It’s a bit chilly, yeah…”  
  
“We’ll fix that.”  
  
“I don’t wanna go inside just yet if that’s what you’re-”  
  
But that wasn’t what he was suggesting. He moved behind you instead, and began rubbing your arms with some vigorous movement in an attempt to warm you up.  
  
A surprised noise escaped your mouth as you stopped walking, and you laughed at him, “Wait, isn’t this supposed to be when you take off your coat and put it around me- like a _true_ gentleman on Valentine’s Day?”  
  
“Nah that’s a bit daft,” he dismissed the suggestion, and hugged you from behind instead (trapping your arms in the process), “I’ve got some good body heat going. You’ve just gotta keep moving to stay warm.”  
  
Without another word, he began to sway to the music with you in his arms. Since you had no choice, you decided to play along.  
  
“Ah, I see,” you pointed out, “This is the part where we dance in the moonlight instead.”  
  
“Minus the moonlight, and only if you want to.”  
  
“You’re a good, old-fashioned lover boy, aren’t you?”  
  
“Of course,” he chuckled. You could feel him looking up at the sky. Deciding to play along further (and to keep the warmth he provided), you turned around, causing him to loosen his embrace. You then assumed a typical slow dancing position with him. Your hands found themselves folded behind his neck, and you felt his hands rest on your waist, just above your hips. Despite the sweetness that radiated from the scenario, you couldn’t help but feel a little nervous of the intimacy of it all. Joe didn’t seem to mind, however; you knew he was a raging extrovert who ran off of socialization of any kind. Besides, you’ve platonically slow danced several times in your life- one time was even with Joe. What was one more time going to do?  
  
On the other hand, it felt strange. What exactly you were two _doing?_ Here you were, suddenly slow dancing with Joe Elliott, joking about kissing and romance, on Valentine’s Day! You knew it was only being done to play along with the tradition of the holiday, but suddenly, it just felt _wrong_ \- like it wasn’t just part of the game anymore. For a moment, your heart sped up, worrying that there might be more to this situation than just the game you were playing. It was actually feeling genuinely _romantic_ now, and neither of you were doing anything to stop it. Maybe Joe _wanted_ this. Maybe you did, too.  
  
“This _is_ the only right way to end our night, isn’t it?” he mused sweetly, oblivious to your underlying thoughts.  
  
You pushed the suspicion aside, and tried to enjoy the moment for what it was, shooting back at him teasingly, “I thought _you’d_ say a shag was best way to end the night…”  
  
Much like before, he said with a suggestive tone, “Well…”  
  
“ _No!_ ” you burst at him, causing you both to erupt into giggles afterwards. You let yourself move forward as this happened so your head was now resting just below Joe’s shoulder. In return, he wrapped his arms around you more.  
  
When your laughter died down, but your swaying remained the same, you softly spoke, “Thank you so much for all of this… I know I said it to you all earlier, but- it’s so been nice, really. I’ve never had this much romance and affection directed at me before… I’m not sure how to handle it…”  
  
There was a pause from him after you spoke. When he replied, he told you quietly and lovingly, “Don’t you ever, _ever_ , for one second think that you don’t deserve a day like today. We don’t believe that at all!”  
  
"But you don’t _have_ to-”  
  
“Oh- hush!” he whined and tightened his embrace, going off again, “We want to do all of this! It’s our choice! And you can’t stop us, either.”  
  
You fell silent with a sigh, still leaning your head on him, swaying along to the far-off song, and supposing he was right; stopping them was out of the question. If there was one thing you learned today, it was that.  
  
He spoke up again gently a quick second later, “Look at me, quick.”  
  
Reluctantly complying (and rolling your eyes), you lifted your head up and moved back to look at him as he requested.  
  
“We _want_ to make you happy!” he softly spoke with a caring smile, “Do I look like I’m kidding? We love you! Isn’t that what today’s all about?”  
  
Fighting against a smile, you quietly told him before looking away, “Oh, stop…”  
  
Joe softened his voice as well, “That’s the truth- you’ve gotta live with that. We love you, and we really mean it…”  
  
He let the sentence linger for only a second before adding on even more softly, “ _I_ … really mean it.”  
  
You thought you knew the feeling of your heart leaping in your chest, but quickly realized you didn’t once he uttered those four words. A brief moment of quiet hung in the hair as you moved your eyes to stare into his.  
  
Did Joe just tell you he loved you?  
  
“Joseph…” you cooed in an almost questioning way, but didn’t add anything afterwards to make it sound like a question. Your intention was to casually play it off, but you immediately found that you couldn’t follow through with it upon seeing his expression. While you weren’t sure if there was an implication behind his words, there was still no denying that it certainly sounded that way.  
  
Based on the look on his face, you could tell he knew it, too. He knew he’d made a mistake. What kind of mistake, however, he still needed to clarify.  
  
You were lost for the right words to ask such a question, and before you could find them, he ripped away his eye contact and awkwardly nodded his head back to the hotel, sputtering, “We should- ah, probably- head…. head back inside soon… and…”  
  
He trailed off, letting his eyes meet yours. You kept staring, captivated by him, and speechless from what he said. It was almost as if you were waking up and realizing exactly what scenario you found yourself in. This moment could be so much _more_ than what it was.  
  
He stared back at you as well for a few tense seconds, completely motionless. Worry and fear flowed from his expression, but then again, so did a captivated tenderness. You couldn’t stop focusing on him; it was too stunning of a sight to look away. With his gaze completely fixed on you, too, you suspected he may have been thinking the same thing.  
  
Perhaps that feeling from before was right; maybe he _did_ want this.  
  
With Peter Frampton’s soft melody off in the distance telling you not to hesitate, you didn’t. You found your hands separating, one of them slowly moving up from his neck to the back of his head, running through his hair and stroking him very softly. The pure romantic tension of it all was unbearable for you. There was no denying that Joe also felt it.  
  
Just as you made up your mind to lean in only slightly, Joe did the same- maybe even before you did. You found your head tilting upwards, and found him leaning down to meet you. It was all rather slow up to a certain point, but before you knew it, your eyes were closed, and your lips were on his. They felt soft (as you’d always suspected them to feel), but you could also feel the interruptive sensation of chapped skin that he suspected earlier.  
  
Joe deepened the kiss very gently, and only very slightly, but you complied along with it. Your hand continued to run through his hair slowly, and his arms folded tighter around your back; it made you genuinely intertwined with each other.  
  
The embrace only lasted a few drawn out seconds- four or five, perhaps- but when it slowly broke, your foreheads remained touching. You could feel Joe’s bangs pressed against you, and when you opened your eyes, you saw that his were still closed.  
  
“Or…” Joe whispered lightheartedly, “We could do _that_ …”  
  
A bashful smile overtook you as you closed your eyes again, softly apologizing, “Sorry…”  
  
Joe immediately turned even more bashful, stuttering as he slowly pulled back from you (but still keeping you enveloped), “No, no, I- uh, yeah… it wasn’t your- I mean it was the right thing to- I mean it was… I was-”  
  
“It was,” you calmly stated with a friendly tone, “The only thing on the Valentine’s Day list that you _didn’t_ do… you know, a dinner, a dance…”  
  
You didn’t dare say the last word.  
  
“Well… guess I can,” Joe continued to speak haltingly, “Go check it off now…”  
  
He broke off with a little giggle, afraid to show any other emotion or mention what’d just taken place between you two. Despite the darkness, you could sense that he was blushing. In response, a brief fear that he might see _you_ blushing flared up.  
  
Quickly seeing a way out of the scenario, you gently backed off from him, resting your hands on his shoulders with a gentle smile, “Then I guess the night ends here if the list is done. We got a show tomorrow; we should go back inside and get to bed.”  
  
“Right, right,” Joe stuttered again, and visibly shivered, “It’s a bit too chilly out here, anyway.”  
  
Without another word, your smile grew as you broke the dancing position to take his arm formally; him complying to the new position. Just like that, you both began walking back to the hotel in silence. Anything that could’ve been said was left to hang as unspoken (even though there was plenty to talk about; Joe’s possible 'confession’, for one thing). Both you and Joe could sense that the other person was perfectly keen on letting go of the kiss for the moment, however, going back to your default friendship.  
  
That still didn’t eliminate the lingering sense of intimacy, though; _that_ stuck around for quite a while.  
**  
*****  
  
When you and Joe got back inside the calm and empty corridor with your respective rooms, you spotted your own that you were sharing with Sav, and let your arm drop from behind his shoulders. The whole walk back was spent in silence, and now you knew it was time to speak again. There was definitely ice that needed to be broken, but you didn’t know what it would take to break it, so you kept as casual as could be in the hopes that you’d both forget the ice was even there.  
  
“Guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” you quipped as you took a step towards the door, looking back at him and adding on a lighthearted scoff, “Thanks for the holiday.”  
  
Joe decided to go along with it when he put his hands in his pockets and accepted your gratitude softly, “Yeah, sure, of course.”  
  
That was enough for you to think you could leave then and there, but as soon as you turned around and stepped forward, a heavy mass of guilt settled in your chest. You and Joe had a friendship to maintain, and if you carried on with an ignored kiss…  
  
It made you wonder if it’d jeopardize the already good relationship you had with him. You cherished that more than anything. You knew you couldn’t let things end here.  
  
“Joe,” you sighed and turned back to look at the singer, and reached out for him.  
  
The lightly-colored eyes perked up with a silent inquiry as Joe reached out instinctively and took your hand.  
  
“Not a word,” you quietly spoke with a softest of smiles, followed by a quick wink, “Okay?”  
  
A smile of his own developed as he agreed just as quietly, “Of course.”  
  
Without another word, he lifted up your hand and gently touched his lips to it with a gentleman-like bow.  
  
A muted chuckle escaped you, and you bid him farewell once more, “Night, then.”  
  
As you turned back to the door, you both let your hands separate from the grasp slowly until they were completely apart. You stepped inside your room and closed the door behind you without looking back at Joe, leaving him there in the hallway by himself.  
  
Now alone, he stood there, absolutely puzzled. He couldn’t figure out what had happened in the last 15 minutes, and couldn’t think of anything else to do but stand there and stare at your door, hoping that it would help him think of something else. 

Did all of that _really_ just happen? How did he end up in this scenario in the first place?  
  
Maybe he’d catch up with whatever had happened later, because he certainly couldn’t comprehend it right then. While his heart pounded from the adrenaline of it all, his mind stood completely still.  
  
With a shaky exhale of relief, Joe finally brought himself to turn away and pace back to his own room two doors down the hall- all while trying to hide the bashful smile that just wouldn’t stay away. 

**_The end._ **


End file.
